Here’s another one for all you do-it-yourselfers out there. Lighter than air is an autonomous flying robot. It utilizes blimp design principles, combining a helium filled envelope with 3-channel motor control allowing it to navigate in 3 dimensions. The schematic can be found at the creator’s site. Cool, but I doubt not as flashy as the robot helicopter.

Advertisement

In case you missed it, Playfeed is giving away an Xbox 360 Limited Edition customized faceplate. This one is from E3, and has the multiple green circle effect along with the text “E3’05 Limited Edition” emblazoned on the front. Yup - you can score a faceplate a full six months before the console debuts.

I sometimes wonder why I can’t come up with gimmicky-yet-functional gadget ideas that might make me rich. Probably my lack of creativity coupled with the fact that I have no desire to do an actual work. I digress. Anyways, check out the Power Strip Liberator. All it really amounts to is a one foot extension cable. The allure here is that you can plug in all of your huge power blocks into any surge protector without having to shuffle around to make room. These things are only $1.79. Genius.

Latest Gear Live Videos

Mortal Kombat fans get ready because Midway is releasing yet another title of this huge franchise. This time is a little different, because now the game is played almost like the previously used “Konquest” mode. You experience the Mortal Kombat II world as either Liu Kang or Kung Lao. The characters will each have 10 different fatalities, weapons, interactive environments, and customizable characters. Jump down for some screenshots.

iTunes has officially been moved over as the only major software platform that you can use to easily sync your music collection to the iPod. Sure, there are other programs available - but none are as popular as Winamp. The plugin is available at no cost.

The Winamp ipod plugin (aka ml_ipod) is a plugin for winamp. It allows you to manage your iPod from within the winamp media library. It supports all kinds of iPods, from the classic first generation iPods, to the iPod shuffle and the latest models.

I certainly thought I’d never see this. We thought we were going forward with audio as a standard. However, maybe you don’t want to buy Def Leppard or White Snake CD’s because you already have the tape. Maybe you don’t want to find them on your favorite online music store. Instead, pop in this baby into an empty 5.25” bay and just sit back and carefully watch your DVD/CD-ROM drive get upset as you kick it where the sun don’t shine. We can’t wait to whip out our Ace of Base tape and begin MP3 conversion. Sweet retro gods will bless you if you buy it. Mac users get spared, for now.

Today we are one step closer to a completely wireless world. The wireless USB spec has been finalized after a myriad of delays. If you aren’t in the know, this is an official specification on how to transfar data through USB wirelessly. Look forward to mice, keyboards, printers - pretty much anything you use with a standard USB cable today, to have a wireless USB counterpart. The standard will use UWB for data flow.

The other day we brought you our interview with Mark Rosewater, Head Designer of Magic: The Gathering. Today we bring you the next installment of Magic love in our interview with Randy Buehler, Magic Head of Research and Development:

Please explain Magic the Gathering?

Magic the Gathering in my opinion the best strategy game in the world. Its primarily a paper based game, but Magic Online is a direct transliteration. We have this strategy game we think is amazing and with a lot of fans, who seem to agree with this. We have ported this onto the online world as well, so you can play the game either way. Sort of one game, two platforms.

Not only is Dave Chappelle relaxing in South Africa, but he’s raking in the cash and making people laugh with his second season of his hit show. Of course if you don’t like his racy comedy then maybe something like the Aviator is more to your liking. Based on a actual events this adventure flick is sure to please the whole family. This week sure seems like a TV on DVD week so grab your favorite season and watch those memorable TV moments when ever you want.

Now this is great. Instead of playing with light sabers, talk with light sticks. This little device scans your highly creative and artistic doodles and displays them in the air for your friends (or anyone around) to see and enjoy. Simply doodle, scan, shake and share. Repeat the steps as needed. Would be pretty sweet to do at a sporting event to talk some smack to the opposing team, however, I’m not sure if they’ll be able to read it from large distances. At $39.99, I’ll let someone else try it out and report back to see how well that works.